1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to medical devices for severing bones and other anatomical structures (e.g., veins, arteries, soft tissue, bowels, etc.). In particular, the present invention pertains to medical devices that sever bones and other anatomical structures in a manner that facilitates correction of deformities and promotes healing.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally, bone deformities of patients may be corrected by various surgical procedures. These procedures may include severing a bone and subsequently manipulating the severed bone sections into a specific alignment, or cutting and/or removing particular sections of the bone. In order to sever or otherwise alter bone structure, the related art provides various medical instruments. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,496 (Keller) discloses a surgical chisel having a rigid shank and a thin elongated blade fixed at the shank front end. The shank and blade are displaceably guided in slideways of a chisel guide to provide the blade with buckling resistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,002 (Ray) discloses a bone impactor having a handle and a smooth shank. The shank tip includes a working surface that forms a symmetrical cylindrical concavity that may be fitted against a bone excrescence. The handle of the bone impactor is struck to compress the excrescence into the bone to relieve pressure on a nerve. U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,744 (Ray) further discloses the bone impactor working surface to include a linear knurl.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,150,675 (Comparetto), 4,349,058 (Comparetto) and 4,728,330 (Comparetto) disclose an osteotome including an arcuate blade portion and a planar cutting blade integrally secured thereto. The arcuate blade portion is axially elongated relative to the planar blade to permit the arcuate blade portion to remain in an initially cut bone section while the osteotome is rotated to perform a second cut. The two cuttings serve to remove a section of bone, thereby facilitating precise alignment of bone sections after repositioning to correct an original bone deformity. A blunt instrument is brought down upon the head end of the osteotome to sever the bone. The planar cutting blade may alternatively have a jagged or sinusoidal (e.g., French, curve type) configuration.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,952,214 (Comparetto) and 5,035,698 (Comparetto) disclose an arcuate osteotomy blade having a shaft disposed parallel to its cutting edge to enhance blade strength and control of the cut. The shaft is gripped by a linearly reciprocating saw, while blade teeth are formed along a leading edge parallel to the blade curvature.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,133 (Comparetto) discloses a bone cutter including a curved blade and an adjustable radial arm for making arcuate cuts with the use of a reciprocating saber or jig saw. The blade includes a curved body and double blade edges to effect left and right curved cuts in bone, and preferably includes saw teeth on only one of the blade edges. The curved body enhances blade strength by resisting flexure and buckling.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,364 (Comparetto) discloses an apparatus for performing arcuate osteotomies wherein a wedge-shaped correction is filed rather than sawed from the bone. A combined saw and file has a curved blade with teeth along a longitudinal edge for making an arcuate cut in a direction perpendicular to the edge, and file teeth on one or both of the curved surfaces for filing out the correction. The blade is engaged by a motor drive that reciprocates the blade to saw and file the bone.
The related art suffers from several disadvantages. In particular, the Keller chisel produces relatively flat severed bone surfaces from a cut, thereby requiring significant stabilization techniques (e.g., screws, pins, wires, etc.) to maintain the severed bone sections in position to correct a deformity. Further, the flat surfaces limit the surface area of contacting bone sections and, therefore, restrict the bone healing potential. The Ray devices are specifically configured to compress, rather than cut, a bone excrescence. As such, the Ray devices have limited applicability and cannot be utilized for severing and repositioning bones to correct deformities.
The Comparetto osteotome does facilitate severing and repositioning of bone to correct deformities, but is driven manually and typically requires extensive effort on the part of a surgeon to sever a bone. Further, the arcuate blade portion of the osteotome produces severed bone surfaces that are flat and smooth, thereby limiting the surface areas of the severed bone sections and restricting the bone healing potential. Although the osteotome planar blade may include a jagged configuration, this portion occupies a relatively minute section of the osteotome and only marginally increases the surface area of the severed bone sections and healing potential. Moreover, in order to correct bone deformities with the Comparetto osteotome, several cuts are formed in the bone to remove a bone section, while the severed sections are manipulated into a position to correct the deformity. This process necessitates accurate determinations with respect to the angle of the cuts and dimensions of the removed bone section, thereby complicating the procedure and increasing the risk of error and injury to a patient.
The Comparetto blades may be utilized to similarly correct bone deformities by requiring several cuts to be formed in the bone to remove a bone section. However, this complicates the procedure and increases the risk of error and injury to a patient as described above. Further, the blades produce severed bone surfaces that are flat and smooth, thereby limiting the surface areas of the severed bone sections and restricting healing potential as described above. Although the Comparetto file provides for a single cut to correct a deformity, the severed bone surfaces are flat and smooth, while the file width and corresponding correction must be carefully determined. Thus, the file limits the severed bone surface area and healing potential, and further complicates the procedure while increasing the risk of error and injury to a patient. In addition, the aforementioned related art does not provide manners or instruments for performing similar corrective procedures on other anatomical structures (e.g., veins, arteries, soft tissue, bowels, etc.).
The above and still further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of specific embodiments thereof, particularly when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals in the various figures are utilized to designate like components.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to sever bones or other anatomical structures (e.g., veins, arteries, soft tissue, bowels, etc.) via a corrugated blade to facilitate repositioning of the severed sections in a mated fashion to enhance stability and promote healing.
It is another object of the present invention to produce various corrugated patterns in severed bone sections to facilitate repositioning of the bone sections in various manners to correct bone deformities.
Yet another object of the present invention is to increase surface area in severed bone sections or other anatomical structures to promote healing of the structure when the severed sections are reunited.
Still another object of the present invention is to enhance stability in severed bone sections, thereby reducing the amount of fixation devices required to maintain the bone sections in a desired position to correct a deformity.
A further object of the present invention is to adapt a corrugated blade for use with a power saw to sever bones or other anatomical structures in a manner that facilitates repositioning of the bones in a mated fashion.
The aforesaid objects are achieved individually and/or in combination, and it is not intended that the present invention be construed as requiring two or more of the objects to be combined unless expressly required by the claims attached hereto.
According to the present invention, a corrugated blade is utilized to form corrugated patterns in ends of a severed bone. The corrugated patterns enable the severed bone sections to be coupled in a mated fashion, thereby providing increased contact area between the bone sections and enhanced stability to promote healing. Further, the corrugated patterns may be offset when coupling the severed bone sections together in order to adjust the bone length and/or orientation to correct a deformity.
The corrugated blade may have varying dimensions to accommodate different sized bones, and may be configured in various fashions (e.g., left or right curve, curved upward or downward, arcuate, etc.) to facilitate manipulation of severed sections into a desired position or orientation. The corrugated blade may be attached to an osteotome handle for manual use, or may be adapted to engage a power tool or saw to sever the bone. Further, the corrugated blades may be utilized for other anatomical structures (e.g., veins, arteries, soft tissue, bowels, etc.) to provide a mated fit between severed sections and promote healing as described above.
The corrugated blade may further be configured in the form of a bone staple. The staple is inserted into bone sections to enhance the connection between those sections. The staple includes perforations to permit the staple to remain within the bone, and various openings to permit the bone to grow through the holes to reinforce the connection.
The corrugated blades of the present invention provides several advantages and may be utilized for various surgical procedures. In particular, the corrugated blades are preferably implemented by razor sharp micro thin surgical blades (e.g., generally less than one millimeter) to sever bone or other anatomical structures, and increase the healing area of the severed bones by at least eight percent. The corrugated blades provide ease of use and simplistic action (e.g., one anatomical plane), while providing a stable osteotomy, thereby reducing or eliminating use of fixation devices (e.g., screws, plates, rods, staples, etc.). In fact, only a single Kirschner wire or single screw fixation is typically required. The corrugated blades may be utilized in a doctor""s office, hospital or other medical facility and may be attached to an osteotome handle for hand held operation via a mallet (e.g., when no power is available), or adapted for use with power reciprocating saws (e.g., Zimmer/Hall, Stryker or other conventional models).
The corrugated blades sever bone without burning or producing bone chips or residue, thereby eliminating the need to flush the bone. The corrugated blades may be utilized wherever oscillating or sagital saws or osteotomies are employed. Procedures for which the corrugated blades may be utilized include: arthrodesis of bones and joints in humans and animals; bone fracture repairs in humans and animals; soft tissue repair in tendons, ligaments, joint capsules and muscles in humans and animals; surgical anastamosis (e.g., uniting) of arteries and veins in humans and animals; and fixation of fractures and arthodesis in humans and animals via the staple.